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sounds like it was a weak spot in the coil
could also be caused by chapping from the cap tubes touching and vibrating against eachother
replace the coil and if you have one with txv witch is a good idea and works better
have a hard start kit installed with a 3 to 5 minute timer
this will alow the pot relay time to reset and time for the compressor to stablize befoere restarting

You're going to have to replace the coil. The problem you may run into is that any new coil you buy today may not match the old outdoor unit and at the same time match the new 13+ which is minimum next year. So plan on replacing both when the outdoor unit fails. In other words you may be replacing the indoor coil in another couple of years. If you have no interest in the 13+ SEER stuff, you might want to go ahead with a system replacement now. This industry is going thorugh some significant price increases right now and it doesnt seem to be slowing anytime soon.

Spring Tune-up and my customers Lennox unit was low on Freon. Seemed strange,since we've sefviced this unit for several years now, but started charging it and it wouldn't take. On the liquid side it would take some and seem that it was going to charge, but then the suction service valve would start to frost.

Went to the evap and could hear the escaping Freon and when the cover was opened my sniffer went crazy.

Customer has a Home warranty, so the warranty company's tech came out before they could get a buy out. He said "The compressor is pumping oil, the oil has clogged the manifold tubes and you need a new condenser also, because it will just do it again and you'll have to replace them both next time anyway."

Today I pulled the evap and it appears that the leak was where one of the manifold tubes is brazed into the coil.

There was no sign of oil anywhere else. None in the metering device, the gasket was good at the metering device, and blowing through the port at the metering device showed no obvious restriction.

Originally posted by Frank_G Customer has a Home warranty, so the warranty company's tech came out before they could get a buy out. He said "The compressor is pumping oil, the oil has clogged the manifold tubes and you need a new condenser also, because it will just do it again and you'll have to replace them both next time anyway."

Eh, WTF is he talking about? I bet he tried to upsell them to better equipment than the home warranty would provide too!

Reminds me of a PM customer of mine that has a home warranty. Furnace died this winter and they got it replaced by the home warranty without calling us. The contractor that the home warranty sent out charged them more in "non covered" items to replace thier grossly oversized furnace with another grossly oversized Ducane furnace than I would have charged them outright for a correctly sized 2 stage Trane furnace.
I dind't have the heart to tell them that, I just told them to call us next time before they replace anyting.